Monday, March 11, 2013

Well as one project comes to an end another one starts. This one isn't planned to take quite so long however - well I hope not anyway.I'm sure many of you have seen the red pergola in photos before. It was one of the original structures in the garden when we moved in, although had to be cleansed of many years of ivy growth first. It was build sometime before 1999 as that was when the owner of the property who built the pergola sold it to the people before us. Based on various other clues I think it was probably built about 1994-95.Nearly 20 years of weather and several years under a blanket of ivy have taken their toll on this softwood structure, and with rot taking a hold in the roof joists and the trellis we decided that it was a good a time as any to get stuck in and make a start on repairing it.Before more on the rebuild it's probably worth having a look at its history with us.

This first photo is from the first visit we made when the house was up for sale back in January 2005. The pergola is there (honest) under the the tower of ivy. I'm looking into a badly damaged koi pond that was in the garden when we moved in, it didn't hold water and there were quite a few problems with the structure itself. This has been filled in and is now the area we refer to as the middle patio.Not long after moving in we got stuck into the garden and one of Mark's first major tasks was removing that tangle of ivy. The dust and mess it created was staggering, and despite the dust causing him to cough and sneeze the ivy was cleared!

There, that's much better!

With the ivy now gone we could give it a coat of stain and wood preserver, to give it a chance of a new life after several years of neglect. We opted for a red stain but quickly decided this wasn't really bright enough for the look we wanted. (you can just see the first exotics creeping in with a cordyline and bamboo to the left of the photo.

There that's perfect, a bright red finish - and yet more exotics!

However moving forward a few years and the old pergola is showing its age, treated softwood in the garden doesn't last for ever and it's time for some maintenance. We knew that the trellis needed to be replaced and at least two of the roof joists.

So with the pond project finished, albeit for a few finishing touches, we decided to get stuck in this weekend. As you can see we needed to do something, this beam had already rotted through and was being supported by a small bracket.

First off was the old trellis. I wanted to get this off carefully as an Aristolochia durior is climbing up it and we want this to grow on the restored pergola. Each cross piece was removed in turn and carefully untangled from the twisting climber - another reason to do this in winter so we could see the stems without a covering of leaves.

If only we had a fire!!

After the trellis was off then we needed to take the top off.

This was actually in worse condition than I had realised, we also discovered that as this came off one of the upright posts was very wobbly and upon closer inspection had rotted off at the ground. Jobs always have a habit of getting a bit bigger once you start them.

At that point we had a discussion about whether to rebuild the pergola at all, as so much needed to be replaced, but we decided it had been such a focal point in the garden we would both miss the bright red splash of colour if we removed it.

So after measuring up what we needed we were off to the DIY store to get new timber to rebuild. The remaining posts are solid but do show a few signs of decay at the ground level. We will treat these and reinforce them to ensure they last another good few years.

Well thats the first half of this project done, the dismantling phase, hopefully if the weather is co-operative next weekend we shall be able to make a start on putting it all back together.Gaz

Well worth a rebuild, it is a striking feature. I really enjoyed spotting the beginnings of your gardening style being imposed on the more traditional original! I had to laugh at the description of how dusty and dirty removing ivy is, I have been doing rather a lot of it myself, and removing rotten trellis.

This gardening blog follows our journey as we create our Tropical and Exotic themed garden. We hope you'll enjoy the journey as much as we do. We started our Exotic Garden in 2005 and this site will show its development, as well as our travels, both abroad and within the UK to gardens, nurseries and friends.See also our full about page